Friday, May 10, 2013

How NOT to screw up Man Of Steel

The much hyped Man of Steel, a movie which would hopefully be a decent reboot to the broken Superman franchise, has been teasing us audiences with it's posters and trailers for quite some time. And now as we approach the release of this movie, a few discussions need to be made. What if Man of Steel doesn't turn out to be everything we're hoping for? What if it goes horribly wrong?!But that can never be! Zack Snyder is an experienced director who has already proven that he's not a stranger to the superhero world(with movies like 'The Watchmen'). The trailers and posters look very promising, to say the least. And what is more, Christopher Nolan, the almighty savior of DC movies, is producing this film! And anyone who's seen The Dark Knight trilogy would know that Christopher Nolan is a man who knows what he's doing. Nothing, nothing could go wrong. This movie will surely be nothing less than EPIC. Right? Wrong!Now, how exactly can the movie fall short of our expectations? 'Man of Steel' like any other comic book reboot, has enough chances of turning into an embarrassment Here are some of my points(things that need to be taken into consideration if the makers don't want to screw this up), in decreasing order of importance.

1. Superman is not Batman

Batman is a creature of the night; of darkness, Superman is the exact opposite, because he literally needs the light, the Sun, to fuel his powers. It's interesting to note the DC's two biggest heroes are like 2 sides of the same coin.After watching the trailers for Man of Steel, I can't help but think that Zack Snyder is trying to utilize Nolan's winning formula of "realism", a formula that worked so well with Batman. Batman is one of the most realistic characters in DC mainly because of the fact that he has no superpowers. So adding realism to a Batman movie will only help with the story. With Superman it's the opposite. In the words of one of my good friends, "Its fucking superman.... as in 'SUPER'!". Superman is not meant to be realistic, hes supposed to be a little over the top, unbelievably powerful, iconic...never realistic. If you try to make him too real, you're ruining the character! So all you fans, pray that the makers don't just blindly follow the TDK formula for this movie.

2. Metropolis is not Gotham

This point cannot be stressed enough. From the trailers I get the feeling that in order to recreate the TDK magic, the makers have given the whole movie a dark theme. I've noticed from '300' and 'Watchmen' that Snyder also tends to stick the this dark theme effect. And yes, I know Metropolis isn't exactly a paradise devoid of crimes, but compared to Gotham, it is. Gotham is a hellhole. Metropolis on the other hand is more advanced, more pleasant and much more of a 'global city'. If Superman's hometown differs drastically from its comic/cartoon version, fanboys are not going to be very happy about it.

3. Kal-El's origin

You can change his costume, his characteristics and his powers but you CANNOT change his origin! This is an unwritten law for any superhero movie. Superman is the last survivor of planet krypton, sent to earth and then raised by a loving couple. From Kal-El to Clark Kent to Superman. Changing this basic story would not be a wise decision. Sure, you can add on to it, make slight changes but you can't just remake the story that millions of fanboys all over the world have read and seen for years. You just can't!

4. Justice League

After the huge success of 'The Avengers', DC needs a Justice League movie to make their presence felt. Desperately. Recent news have confirmed that Warner Bros. are currently searching for a good director to take on the job. And with all the hype building up, fans have already assumed that 'Man Of Steel' would be the movie that starts off the Justice League project. Maybe an after credits scene...Martian Manhunter dragging himself out of a destroyed spaceship, Clark finding a batarang at his front door...anything, goddammit! The fans are that desperate for this movie, so if this film doesn't have even a slight hint for an upcoming Justice League movie, it would be disappointing for many fans(myself included).If this movie is able to pull through, if it's able to recreate the Superman era while adding new themes, and at the same time tackle all the issues mentioned above, it will be a huge success. And like any other fanboy, I have my fingers crossed. The most iconic hero of all time has already been screwed over too many times, let's just hope that this movie helps the man of steel regain some respect and DC, to get back in the game.